ROANOKE, Va. – Imagine seeing property you own vandalized.
It happens again after you get it cleaned or repaired; that’s what happened to the Roanoke Valley Speech and Hearing Center.
“We’ve seen an increase in damage and vandalism to our center,” LeeAnn Reich, the Executive Director of the Roanoke Valley Speech and Hearing Center said.
Reich said they are dealing with unwanted visitors.
“We had some people light a campfire outside our facility, and ended up charring outside our building, we had people ripping the outlet locks off the outlets,” Reich said.
And now there’s another problem.
“In the fall we started to get tagged on the outside of our building,” Reich said.
Reich showed 10 News a few images taggers have spray painted on the facility.
Reich says about two to three weeks after spending nearly $10,000 for lighting, paint and repairs to cover the graffiti, taggers hit the facility again.
This time, the suspects cut a hole in the fence and left a message that read, “Try a little harder.”
“It’s a little insulting, we worked really hard to put three coats of paint on the wall to cover up the initial artwork, so to come back and leave a message is insulting, feels like they’re antagonizing us,” Reich said.
Reich said a concern is funding.
As a nonprofit, money is limited so it’s difficult trying to figure out if they should spend money on extra security, which is about another $14,000.
“Now we’re asking for the community to keep their eyes and ears open for us,” Reich said.
10 News checked the neighborhood around the facility and noticed several identical graffiti tags on several nearby buildings.
Reich has filed two police reports and 10 News reached out to police for an update on the investigation but has not heard back.